Elijah Craig
Reverend Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher, an educator, and an entrepreneur who built the first paper and wool mills in Kentucky. But it was his gift as a distiller and an innovator that brought him his greatest acclaim. In 1789, Elijah Craig became the first distiller to age his whiskey in new charred oak barrels. Some claim that an accidental fire charred his barrels and changed the whiskey inside. Others say he stored his whiskey in former sugar barrels and was impressed with how charring improved the flavor. Regardless of how it happened, he knew he was on to something great. Elijah Craig is now distilled at the Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown Kentucky
